Familiar of Zero(Zero no Tsukaima) Author Dies at 41

Yamaguchi had planned to end the Zero no Tsukaima light novels last year before his cancer diagnosis and subsequent operation. Media Factory published the 20th of 22 planned volumes in February of 2011. Zero no Tsukaima F, the fourth and final anime series, premiered in 2012.

Yamaguchi had just returned to work last year, and he wanted to resume his Zero no Tsukaima novels at the beginning of this year. However, he reported in November that this is unfeasible due to his most recent hospital stay for surgery, and apologized to his readers for the wait. He vowed to continue writing when his health returns “no matter what,” and thanked everyone for the words of encouragement — in Japanese and in English.

Yamaguchi’s family held a service on Tuesday.

Zero no Tsukaima is a series of light novels, 20 published, that to me define what a light novel series could be. Fun, east to read stories, fun characters, fun art, and fun to read. An anime was adapted from the series and ran 4 seasons.